The End of an Era
by Fresh Water Plimpy
Summary: A one-shot of Severus Snape and Lily Evans and his final goodbye.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter**

**A/N: This is a tiny one-shot of Severus Snape.**

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The End of an Era

"What now, Severus?"

"Please, Lily, hear me out! I've said 'sorry' a thousand times! Why won't you forgive me for what I said down by the lake _last year_?" pleaded Severus.

Lily Evans looked up at the sixteen year old boy who had once been her best friend. "Because, Severus, it was a foul thing to say. I knew who you hang around with and what you get up to, but I was still willing to be your friend. Then you called me a Mudblood and that was it. I had had enough! I've seen the way you treat people, including me, as if they're scum from the bottom of your shoe!"

Lily's voice was getting louder with every sentence as she let every bitter feeling out of her system. "Your life could have been so much easier if you had just _tried_ to get along with Potter and his friends. You wouldn't be getting into fights every other day, you wouldn't be calling Muggleborn's 'Mudblood's'. You might just have decent friends for once in your stinking, miserable, little life!"

She turned away from Severus and left him standing in the cold court yard, gaping after her. He would never show it but her words had cut him deep. He watched her vivid red hair fan out behind her as she walked, her robes swishing about her ankles, bag gently bumping against her hip with every angry step she took.

Why did he even notice that? It wasn't as though he loved her. She was only a Mudblood. _No, she's not. She's so much more than that!_ Severus sank onto a bench in the corner of the small court yard and stared at the ground. _She's funny, smart, kind, brave, gentle, beautiful. Damn, I even love it when she's angry!_

Ever since Lily had first refused to accept his apology he felt as though he had a gaping hole in his chest where she used to be. She had been his escape from his home. She always knew how to comfort him when he was angry or upset when his parents had argued again. She was the reason he got through each day: to hear her voice, hear her laugh. To see her face was like looking up at the sky and staring at the sun. Words were not enough to describe the beauty of her eyes. Their emerald green reflected the light, always leaving her with a sparkle in her eye. They showed every trace of emotion she was feeling at the time, even if the rest of her face didn't, and no one could see that more than Severus.

There was only one reason why he noticed these things about Lily Evans. He was in love with her.

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It wasn't true. It _couldn't _be true. Lily Evans could not be dead!

Severus stepped out of the fireplace in his home at Spinners End and leant on the mantle, letting his head bang against the wall. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply through his nose.

The hole in his chest seemed to have torn open even wider than it had been when he was sixteen. The void in his life that was Lily would never be filled in now. She would never realise that she had been wrong about Potter and come back to him.

No one could ever replace her: there was no one like her. She was a unique witch who was able to capture the hearts of any man she wanted. Instead, she had gone for Potter, which had ultimately led her to her death.

Severus let out a heart-wrenching sob, biting his lip to quieten it as much as possible. _She's gone, dead, forever!_ And what was he supposed to do now? Dumbledore had asked him to help protect her son and he had agreed, without really knowing what he had agreed to. But how could he protect the boy, when he was the son of Potter? How could he ever treat the boy with any kind of decency if he had to look into the face of Potter, or the eyes of Lily. That's what Dumbledore had said. That the boy has Lily's eyes.

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**A/N: I love Sev so much. I hate the fact that he's had to live practically his whole life with little or no happiness at all.**

**Let me know what you think.**

**Fresh Water Plimpy =]**


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